Apple hires former Tesla and Microsoft senior designer

The Daily iPad 'newspaper' launches, $.99 weekly or $39.99 per year

Rupert Murdoch's iPad-only magazine The Daily, once described as "The New York Post Goes to College," is now a go. Launched at a New York event this morning, it pledges to offer "the best of traditional journalism" with "the best of contemporary technology" like 360 degree photos and, naturally, lots of fancy multimedia content that is all pushed directly to the iPad every day. It's priced at $.99 per week or $39.99 annually and launches today, unsurprisingly with Egypt taking the "cover" image. The team behind the new-age zine showed off plenty of that technology, including a magazine-like reading interface, letting you flip through pages, and a "carousel," that gives you a higher-level view of the pages for easier browsing.

The Daily also includes audio versions, with professional voiceover so you won't have to worry about GPS voice, plus video overviews of all the content if you just don't have time for reading or listening. You can share stuff you like on Twitter or Facebook and others will be able to read those stories for free via the web -- but not all the content, naturally. The site will offer app reviews and features with links right to the App Store. Sports fans get full schedules and news updates for the teams they like. Again, The Daily launches today, and we're told that the first two weeks will be courtesy of Verizon. Good on ya, VZW!

New York, NY, February 2, 2011 – Today Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of News Corporation, unveiled The Daily -- the industry's first national daily news publication created from the ground up for iPad.

"New times demand new journalism," said Mr. Murdoch. "So we built The Daily completely from scratch -- on the most innovative device to come about in my time -- the iPad."

"The magic of great newspapers -- and great blogs -- lies in their serendipity and surprise, and the touch of a good editor," continued Mr. Murdoch. "We're going to bring that magic to The Daily -- to inform people, to make them think, to help themengage in the great issues of the day. And as we continue to improve and evolve, we are going to use the best in new technology to push the boundaries of reporting."

The Daily's unique mix of text, photography, audio, video, information graphics, touch interactivity and real-time data and social feeds provides its editors with the ability to decide not only which stories are most important -- but also the best format to deliver these stories to their readers.

"News Corp. is redefining the news experience with The Daily," says Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think it is terrific and iPad users are really going to embrace it."

Led by Editor-in-Chief Jesse Angelo and Publisher Greg Clayman, The Daily is the first application made available on the App Store as a subscription -- which will be billed directly to an iTunes account. And because this paperless paper requires no multi-million dollar presses or delivery trucks, it will be priced at just 99 cents a week (or $39.99 for an annual subscription).

"The Daily launches at a moment when advances in technology are changing the job of the modern editor," says Mr. Angelo. "These advances are giving us new ways to tell stories. We intend to take advantage of all of them, and make The Daily the new voice for a new era."

Each day The Daily will publish up to 100 pages focused on six key areas: news, sports, gossip and celebrity, opinion, arts and life, and apps and games. It will offer views from across the political spectrum. They will come from across cultures and generations, across America and the world.

The Daily will feature Sudoku and crossword puzzles, localized weather reports, and a customizablesports package that captures news on the user's favorite teams. Subscribers will also be able to leave comments on Daily stories in either written or audio form -- as well as bookmark them in-app to read later.

As readers move through The Daily's content, they will be helped by several highly intuitive navigation tools. And while The Daily lives on the iPad, most of its articles can be easily shared via Facebook, Twitter and email. The Daily will link out to the web, as well as bring the web into the app.

"In short, says Mr. Murdoch, "we believe The Daily will be the model for how stories are told and consumed in this digital age."

The Daily has bureaus in New York and Los Angeles, as well as stringers across the country. Full company bios are available at TheDaily.com/about. Executive staff includes:

The Daily is also changing the way advertising is offered and consumed within a news publication. Full-page ad units are completely interactive, customizable, and offer a rich mix of branding and direct response opportunities. Launch advertisers include HBO,Macy's, Paramount, Pepsi Max, Range Rover, Verizon, and Virgin Atlantic Airways.

"With The Daily, Rupert Murdoch has given us the chance to rethink the entire experience of news delivery and consumption," said Mr. Clayman. "The ability to actively listen to and engage with our audience means we can continually provide an experiencethat consumers value in this fast-evolving tablet space. Together with our customers, our advertising partners, and the team at The Daily, we are excited to create a new form of media."

About The Daily

The Daily is a first-of-its-kind daily national news publication built exclusively as an application for tablet computing. It provides readers the engaging experience of a magazine combined with the immediacy of the web and the need-to-know content of a newspaper, all while elevating user experience beyond the printed word. The Daily is a subscription-based news product, published 365 days a year, at the cost of $0.99 cents a week or $39.99 a year. For more information on The Daily go to: www.thedaily.com.

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) had total assets as of September 30, 2010 of approximately US$56 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$33 billion. News Corporation is a diversified global media company with operations in six industry segments: cable network programming; filmed entertainment; television; direct broadcast satellite television; publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and Latin America.